And now, for an advertisement from the Florida tourism industry...

Well, I'm back from Florida. Man, the weather could not have been any nicer down there... mid-80s, dry and breezy all week long. It was fantastic!!!

I took a shuttle from the airport to my hotel in Clearwater Beach, where we were on the Clearwater Harbor side of Sand Key; the Gulf of Mexico was across the street. As I was in the shuttle, I was smiling at all the palm trees everywhere, and also struck by all the space!! A clear sign I live in a compact city like NYC: I was amazed by how far apart things are and all the single-level buildings. And parking lots! I almost didn't recognize what they were! ;)

Normally I tune out a chatty shuttle driver or give the "I'm not really listening to you" answers ("Uh-huh, hmmm... that's nice."), but for some reason, I was paying attention to this chatty driver. Good thing--he gave me some good tips about how to get around the area, good restaurants to try, and times to avoid traffic snarls or tourist-y areas. He was totally right about everything, including this great seafood restaurant (ohhhhh... fresh seafood!!) that specialized in several "just caught it a couple hours ago" Catches-of-the-Day. My cousin asked what I was getting, and before I could even answer, my dad and sister piped up with "crab legs" (and they were right-- apparently I am just that predictable when it comes to seafood!).

By the way, if anyone's planning a trip down to Clearwater Beach or the Tampa area, I'd recommend the Marriott on Sand Key. They had everything we needed except the beach, and that was just across the street. And Clearwater Beach has got to be one of the nicest beaches along the U.S. coast-- the finest powder/sand I've ever felt, a shallowly sloping shelf and moderate surf that doesn't pound you to death.

I even saw several dolphins while I was there. One evening when my sister, brother-in-law, little niece and I walked back over Sand Key's causeway, we caught sight of three dolphins in the channel from the harbor to the Gulf and stopped to watch them swim under the bridge. And the day before I left, there was a whole pod of them in the harbor during lunch... According to the locals, the dolphins are a fairly common sight in and around Old Tampa Bay at that time of year.